


Seven days, no funny business

by orphan_account



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sibling Bonding, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2015-01-23
Packaged: 2018-02-23 00:33:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2527382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mickey wants to convince his sister that he isn't just a sad, lonely cop who spends his Friday nights alone watching Lord of the Rings. Ian agrees to help him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Mickey! You will never believe this!” Mandy exclaimed the moment the skype screen turned on. It was still loading and the screen was all grainy but he could still make out the huge smile on his sister’s face.

“What is it?” Okay, he didn’t sound as enthusiastic as he should be, but he was tired and it was already 11pm and he had an early shift the next morning. He just wanted to take a shower and sleep.

“My bitch of a boss found my sketches a few weeks ago and told me they were really good, so she _took_ them from me,” Mandy sounded rather mad about that. “But today! Today she came into my office and do you know what she told me!?”

“No Mandy, what?” he really tried to sound interested, but he failed miserably. Mandy didn’t bother though.

“I can have my own fashion show! Mickey, she let me throw my own fashion show! It’s in the last week of January and there’s gonna be so many people there Mick, this is so important!”

“That’s really cool, Mands,” Mickey smiled weakly. He was genuinely happy for her, she really deserved it, she had been working there for almost four years now, she really deserved to get some credit out there.

“It is! So you’re coming!”

“I’ll ask my boss, I’ll try I promise,” Mickey mumbled.

“Oh, and you’re taking your boyfriend, too.” Mandy said matter-of-factly.

Mickey was awake almost instantly, eyes widening and frowning at the screen. Fuck, why had he told her he had a boyfriend? When had he told her? It had been a while since their last call. Why did he even think that would be a good idea?

“Yeah, my boyfriend,” Mickey sighed.

“There’s no getting out of this Mickey, I’m your sister, I’m gonna have to meet him someday.”

“I know Mands, you will alright. I’ll ask him if he can.”

“What’s his name? What does he even look like? He doesn’t stay over at yours?”

“Mandy, I’m gonna go now, we’ll talk tomorrow but I just wanna sleep.” Mandy rolled her eyes.

“God you pussy, who even thought you suitable as a cop,” she said teasingly. Mickey smiled into the camera before shutting it down. He typed ‘goodnight, Mands’ into the chat box and logged out. He saved himself out of the awkward conversation today, but he has to come up with a plan.

 

Once he had showered, Mickey crawled under his sheets and stared at his own reflection in the mirror above his bed – what did the previous owners even think when they stuck a mirror to the ceiling – he felt kind of proud. Proud about his sister. He should have reacted better, maybe showing how happy he really was for her. He would tell her tomorrow for sure.

Lying in his bed after a skype call with his sister always made him feel weird. He loved talking to Mandy, but he hated that there were 800 miles keeping them apart. He wanted to be with his sister, hug her when he was happy for her and comfort her when she cried. He hated to see her cry on a computer screen, he felt totally useless and he would buy a plane ticket any second if it meant that he could be with her.

They had grown up together; they only had each other for years and years. But after Mandy graduated and shit went down, he had to let her go. He remembered the day they packed her bags, hastily stuffing all her clothes into the big suitcase Mickey had stolen for her. They packed as much as they could, making sure Mandy wouldn’t forget anything. When everything was packed, Mickey took Mandy to the airport with one of the cars Iggy had brought home and waited with her until she had to go onto the plane.

___

_“Mickey I’ve never flown before!”_

_“You’ll be alright Mandy, you’ve always been. When you arrive Jenna will be waiting for you. You can live with her for as long as you need. You have the job and you have money on the account I opened for you. Please Mands; promise me you’ll be okay.”_

_“I’ll try Mick, I promise.”_

_They hugged for five minutes until Mandy really had to go and Mickey felt like he would fall apart when the doors closed behind her. He felt empty and scared. Anxious to go back home without the only person keeping him sane._

_He didn’t cry. He never cried. They had promised each other that they wouldn’t cry, because they knew that this was the best for both of them._

___

“You’re fucking late again,” Mickey grumps when Ian steps into the cruiser and sits next to him. Ian rolls his eyes. The guy should be used to it by now; they had been partners for almost two years now. Mickey had the worst morning mood in the whole city of Chicago and he couldn’t stand Ian in the morning. He knew the guy would go running at 5am each morning and that was just something Mickey couldn’t wrap his head around.

“You look even moodier than usual, what’s wrong now?” Ian greeted him as he locked his seatbelt.

Mickey didn’t answer because suddenly, there was a voice calling out on the radio. Mickey started the car and drove to the given address as Ian answered back that they were leaving to the scene.  It was typical; 8am calls on vandalism around the high schools. Stupid teenagers who thought spray painting on buildings and shop windows before going to school was the best thing to start the day.

Mickey hated those calls because he knew well enough what it meant. It meant that he had to go running after stupid kids, take them to the station and let them go with a fine and a warning.

All in all, Mickey liked his job. As long as he was on the late shift. 

The rest of the day went by like any other weekday. A few fights, small car accidents with angry drivers calling each other out in the middle of the street, arresting a shoplifter and sitting in the car, cruising around and waiting until they’re called in.

Mickey was more than happy to go home again. He picked up some take-out at the Indian place Mandy always loved and ordered the same Chicken Curry as always. Mandy had texted him she wouldn’t be able to skype so he ate while watching some reruns of Prison Break, showered and went to bed before ten.

_***_

When Mickey woke up the next day, he got dressed into some sweatpants and a hoodie, pulled on his old and worn Timberlands by the door and took the elevator, too lazy to take three flights of stairs down. He went to the small convenience store two blocks down to buy some food for the next few days and stopped at the coffee shop in his street before going back home.

“Ah Mister Milkovich, Café Americano?” the girl behind the counter smiled brightly as he entered, he had been having the same coffee for four years, he shouldn’t be surprised she knew. Still, it was weird to be called ‘Mister Milkovich’ everywhere he went.  Being a cop meant people all around knew your name and that wasn’t something Mickey could really get used to.

“Yes, thank you,” Mickey nodded.

Back in the entrance hall of the apartment, he opened his mailbox for the first time that week and took everything upstairs with him.

They were just the same as always; electric bills, water bills, promotions in stores and advertisements. Except now there was a thick envelope too, his address written in what could only be Mandy’s round and graceful handwriting. He was surprised she hadn’t placed hearts on the ‘I’ like she always did.

Inside the envelope, there were two plane tickets and a letter. Mickey knew right there that he was seriously fucked. He had to come up with something, maybe some kind of excuse like he broke up with his nonexistent boyfriend or maybe his boyfriend got driven over by a car? Okay no, that would be stupid and totally unbelievable.

He opened the letter that was stuffed with the tickets.

_“Plane tickets plus booked hotel in the middle of NY, so excited to meet your mystery man.”_

Mickey wanted to hit his head against the table.

“Fuck,” he sighed.

***

Mickey was sitting in his car, sweating and panting loudly. Ian wasn’t doing much better next to him. They just had to run through town like two lunatics, chasing a drug dealer they had been looking for since three months. The guy hadn’t made it easy for them; they had to run over fences, climb ladders and stairs, run through alleys, jump on top of dumpsters and they were almost driven over by a bus. They finally caught the guy when he ran into a dead end. Ian had arrested the guy and they both dragged him back to the cruiser.

“I chose the wrong job,” Mickey panted.

“No, you’re just in bad shape, do you even exercise?” Ian said mockingly.

“Screw you, I work out.” Okay he didn’t do it a lot, but he worked out at least once a week at the gym in his building. He also lifted weights; he didn’t get those arms from doing nothing, thank you very much.

“Maybe you should go running with me, might make it easier to do your job.”

“You’re hilarious,” Mickey said sarcastically.

 

Once the guy was interrogated and put behind bars, Ian and Mickey got back into the car and drove around town for a while, keeping an eye out until they were called. Mickey was happy with car duty, he hated sitting at the office.

“So why don’t you tell me what’s up your ass because you’re even more cranky than normally,” Ian said casually.

Well unfortunately, there was nothing 'up his ass' these days, Mickey thought. He was planning on making some kind of snarky comment but decided against it.

“Just my sister.”

“The one in New York?”

“Did I ever mention any other sisters?” it came out more annoyed than it should.

“You never really mention anything at all.” Mickey shrugged; it was true, he didn’t like talking about his family at all while Ian was talking about his constantly. Mickey felt kind of bad for never listening.

“So what’s the problem?”

“She’s throwing her first big fashion show and wants me to come.”

“I don’t see the problem.”

Mickey rolled his eyes before saying, “I might have told her I have a boyfr-, I’m in a relationship to get her off my back but now she bought plane tickets and a hotel room for two. They’re nonrefundable and it’s a pretty expensive hotel.” Ian nodded understandingly. “I don’t want to let her down and I know she worked hard for that. She’s so happy and I really don’t wanna disappoint her y’know? It’s only one week until I’m leaving and I need to think of something to save myself out of this without hurting her.”

“That’s probably the most you’ve said to me in three years.” Ian said softly. Mickey just gave him a stupid look. Ian was probably right, Mickey wasn’t a talker. But pointing that out wasn’t helping. Not that he expected Ian to actually help him.

“Why would she be unhappy if you were single?” Ian sounded confused.

“She thinks I’m lonely. Thinks I’m always working or watching sad TV-shows and Lord of The Rings. She thinks I don’t have a life or something and she doesn’t want that for me. I mean, I don’t want to worry her, y’know? So ever since I told her I found someone she’s really happy for me and she doesn’t feel as bad about living in New York now. Does that make sense?”

Ian nodded. “That makes a lot of sense.”

“Yeah.” Mickey leaned back into his seat and stared outside.

“I could do it?” Ian suddenly said.

“What?”

“I could act like your boyfriend; it’s only for a week right? I like New York, always wanted to go and I mean, how hard can it be?”

That was both the stupidest and the best idea ever. Taking Ian with him could seriously save him because he knew Ian and it wouldn’t be weird or anything – he hoped – and it would make a good story to tell Mandy. But on the other side, he didn’t know if he would be able to spend one full week, day and night with his talkative partner and how did Ian even knew he was gay. Was Ian even gay?

“You’d do that?”

“Sure,” Ian shrugged.

“How would be ever get the chief to give us both one week off at the same time?”

“I worked here for three years, I never took an extra day off, he owes me.”

“Okay, I guess that could work.”

 

When they got back to the office, the Chief somehow agreed to give them both a week off after Ian talked to him. He even looked happy when he told Mickey that he shouldn’t have to worry about it. Mickey didn’t dare to ask Ian what that was all about, so he decided to just leave it at that. They had one more week to talk through things and suddenly he was kind of excited about all of it. Now he didn’t have to worry about upsetting his sister anymore, he looked forward to going to New York. He looked forward to seeing her for the first time in so long, it had been two years since Mandy flew over for Christmas.

***

That same night, after his shift, he texted Mandy before going to sleep.

_To Mandy (1:16am): Got the tickets today, can’t wait to see u Mands. Ian’s pumped to go to NY ;)_

After clicking send, Mickey realized that there was no turning back now. Oh god, what did he bring himself into.


	2. Chapter 2

“Okay, so we need to go through this again.”

Ian sighed but Mickey didn’t care. They had been going through their plans all week now and Ian was probably getting tired of the repetition, but they were on the plane already and it was the last time they could really talk it through. Mandy had already added Ian on Facebook and talked to him which had not been in Mickey’s plan _at all_. At least Mandy seemed to approve judging by the reaction she gave Mickey on skype.

___

_“He is gorgeous, oh my god Mick!”_

_“Yeah he’s pretty good looking,” he didn’t lie; there was no mistaking that Ian was very good looking. Okay no, he was really ‘where are my sunglasses’ hot, but Mickey was not going to say that out loud._

_“I can’t wait to meet him in real, I feel like we’re gonna be best friends already,” Mandy smiled._

_“Please don’t make a fool out of me,”  if Mandy would pull out the shameful childhood stories, he was completely done for._

_“Oh Mickey, you know me. I wouldn’t.” The evil smile on her face told him a whole other story though._

___

“We’ve been together for how long?”

“Three months.”

“How did we meet?”

“At the station, we’ve been partners for three years.”

“How did we start dating?”

“We were at a colleague’s bachelor party in a club and there was a spark?” Mickey grumbled.

“It shouldn’t sound like a question, Ian.” Ian rolled his eyes.

“We were at the club and started dancing, we got hot and heavy and the next day we kind of figured we had been dancing around each other for way too long already so we just made it official.”

That sounded way better and Mickey was glad that Ian sounded believable enough to trick Mandy. Mickey stopped talking though once the plane started going forward, putting his earplugs in. There was nothing he hated more than the weird feeling in his ears when the plane takes off or when the plane goes down.

“You know those won’t help, right?”

Mickey acted like he didn’t hear him and stared outside of the window, glad he was sitting next to it. Ian rolled his eyes and started reading the book he brought.

 ***

Only one hour later, something suddenly crossed his mind and _shit_ , how did they not think of that? Mickey grabbed Ian’s shoulder and shook a little until Ian opened his eyes, he wasn’t really sleeping, Mickey realized then.

“What?”

“We missed a part!”

“Oh please, Mickey, not again,” Ian almost whined. Mickey ignored his pleads though.

“We missed couple-y things!”

“Couple-y things?”

Mickey gave him a faint stare and Ian suddenly seemed to realize what Mickey was talking about. God, for a smart guy, Ian really had a hard time actually thinking.

“Oh!”

Couple-y things, in other words; kissing, hugging, complimenting and sending sweet stares at each other. How were they ever going to manage that? Maybe they could ignore it, and they could act a little held back, but that wouldn’t look real.

“I’m not going to kiss and hug you,” Mickey stated.

“We could just do small things, I don’t know. Like me putting a hand around your waist or I don’t know, _actually_ laugh when one of us says something witty.”

Ian was obviously referring to the fact that Mickey almost never reacted to his jokes. And mind him, Ian told a lot of jokes, he was constantly joking around and really, it doesn’t keep on being funny. Also, Mickey’s a stubborn ass refusing to laugh and make Ian feel even better about himself.

“Ian, you’re jokes aren’t even funny. That dentist joke you told once was literally your biggest low ever.”

“I think it’s really funny.”

“Well I guess that might work.” Mickey shrugged.

About half an hour later, they finally arrived. Mandy had told Mickey she was working that day and would meet with them the next day, but she had sent a friend to pick them up. When they came into the arrival hall, there were hundreds up people there. Some with balloons, some crying when their family arrived, couples kissing each other hello for the first time in who knows how long. It was disgusting and Mickey suddenly remembered why he hated airports so much.

“Oh, I think that’s our guy!” Ian said, pointing at a handsome guy holding up a large piece of paper, MILKOVICH written in curly handwriting, hearts on the ‘I’. That was definitely made by Mandy.

They walked towards the guy and he greeted them immediately, welcoming them.

“My name’s Ryan, I lived with Mands and Jenna for a while,” he introduced himself. Mickey gave him a slight nod.

“Mickey.”

“I figured, you and Mandy look so much alike,” the guy was friendly; he was definitely working in fashion too, judging by the way he dressed and the fancy, styled hair.

“Yeah, get that a lot.”

Ian scraped his throat behind Mickey.

“Oh fuck, yes. This is Ian, my - my partner.” Ian smiled and shook Ryan’s hand.

Ryan looked a little weird at the word ‘partner’ which is kind of normal, other people call them boyfriends right? He should try to remember that. After all the introductions, Ryan finally walked them to his car and started their way to the hotel.

He drove past a lot of touristic sites, showing them around in a little tour before going to the hotel. Ian was staring open-mouthed at everything they passed, saying ‘whoa’ and ‘dude’ multiple times in row. It was kind of adorable; he  looked like a kid in a candy store.

They finally stopped at the Row NYC hotel in central New York, which, whoa! Mandy could never afford that. They were staying for one full week – eight days because they arrived a day early – that was probably more than 2k, there was no way Mickey could ever repay that.

“Stop worrying, let’s go inside it’s cold,” Ian said, pushing Mickey so he would get out of the car.

The entrance of the hotel was gigantic and a perfect example of architectural beauty. It was elegant and modern in bronze and brown colors. There were different colors of lights coming from everywhere and it didn’t even feel real, like Mickey wasn’t even there.

Ryan had told them he had to go back to work to finish his deadline before saying goodbye, but Mickey didn’t really register it. He went to the front desk of the hotel instead, where a pretty blonde woman welcomed him. Her hair was in an elegant bun and her dress looked so tight he was surprised she could still breathe. The blazer giving it a more formal look.

“Hello, welcome to the Row NYC hotel, how can I help you?”

“Um yeah, I booked a room about two weeks ago,” Mickey said, trying to keep his voice down a little, he handed her his booking paper.

“Yes indeed, deluxe city view, one bed, room 2508,” Mickey simply nodded. She smiled again and turned around to get the key.

“Have a nice stay, mister Milkovich. Joshua will help you with your luggage, if you have any questions or needs; there is a phone in the room and a list of numbers to reach. We are available at every hour.” She stared at Mickey’s hand as he took the key from her, trying to figure out the tattoos. When she noticed that Mickey had seen her stare, she smiled again and looked away.

Joshua had taken most of their luggage and guided them to one of the six elevators. Mickey felt like Vivian in freaking Pretty Woman. He probably looked like it too with the way he stepped into the elevator. He had never seen elevators this big and classy, it even smelled nice, like those fancy home perfumes.

“Your room is on the 25th floor and it’s the third room in the second corridor,” Joshua said as they walked through the first corridor. He slid the key card into the lock and opened the door when the light turned green.

“If you might need anything else, you can reach us at any time. Have a nice stay,” Joshua said slyly. Mickey didn’t really like the guy; there was something smug about him.

“Sure, thank you,” Ian said, closing the door behind him.

The hotel room wasn’t big, but it was big enough for two people. It was bright with a lot of white colors, accentuated with black lines to make it look more modern. The wall behind the bed was yellow with ‘ ** _rest_** aurant’ written on it. Opposite the bed, there was a large flat screen TV on the wall and against another wall there was a small desk with a phone and indeed, a list of numbers.

The bathroom was pretty small, but everything they needed was there. There was also a small dresser behind a curtain. The windows in the room were pretty small but the view was amazing. They had the whole skyline in front of them, could see the whole city of New York and it was amazing, it looked just like the movies.

“One bed,” Ian said as he joined Mickey by the window.

“I noticed.”

“You don’t mind?” Ian asked then.

“There are two sides on a bed Ian; I’m not sleeping on the floor for seven nights. Just no funny business and we’ll be just fine.”

Ian nodded and took his luggage, emptying it in the dresser and bathroom.

“So are we meeting Mandy today?”

“No she’s busy today, we’re meeting her for lunch tomorrow,” Mickey felt kind of bad about that. He really wanted to see his sister and knowing that he was less than thirty minutes away from her and still not be able to see her, annoyed him to bits.

“So what do you wanna do tonight?”

“I don’t know, eat out and watch a movie in here or something,” Mickey didn’t feel like being active. Sure, he was in New York and there was so much he could see but he just wanted to sleep and for this day to be over.

“Wow Mickey, that almost sounds like a date,” Ian laughed good-heartedly.

***

They ended up at an Indian restaurant Mandy suggested and Mickey couldn’t break his habits, he ordered the same Chicken Curry he always ordered. Ian on the other hand, ordered things with unpronounceable names that sounded pretty unhealthy and foreign to his ears.

“So are you actually gay, or did you just really want to see New York that bad?” Finally Mickey had asked the question he’d been sitting on ever since Ian had suggested to go with him and help him out.

“Three years and we don’t know anything about each other, how is that even possible, Mickey?” Ian always had the habit to say his name after all his sentences. It was weirdly personal but Mickey loved hearing his actual name instead of ‘Mister Milkovich’.

“I’m gay,” Ian answered his question. Mickey didn’t know if that made this whole situation even weirder or not.

***

Back at the hotel, Mickey tried not to act weird about sleeping in one bed together. He decided to keep on his track pants and wife beater instead of sleeping in boxers like he usually did. Ian on the contrary, wasn’t as considerate. He stripped down until only his boxer briefs were left and crawled in the bed next to Mickey.

They watched Transformers together but Mickey barely made the second half, falling asleep not even minding the background noises.

***

Ian being a morning person didn’t help at all when he slept in the same bed as Mickey. His alarm went off at 6AM, luckily Ian turned it off immediately but it still woke Mickey. Seriously, what in hell was Ian planning to do this early in the morning?

Ian didn’t say anything, he put on his training and left without saying a word, probably thinking Mickey was still asleep. Mickey didn’t feel like sleeping anymore either way now he woke up to the bright lights in his face. It felt kind of weird to wake up somewhere other than his own room. Where his apartment was colored with warm colors, the hotel room was so bright it hurt his eyes and the room smelled of perfume and fabric softener.

The night had been a little strange too. Mickey wasn’t used to share his bed with someone. Ian moved a lot in his sleep, knees sometimes pushing against Mickey’s back and Ian’s long arms flailing all around. Fortunately, the guy didn’t snore.

 

About an hour and a half later, when Mickey had showered and got dressed, Ian finally came back. He was sweating and there was a white towel hanging around his neck.

“I can’t believe you,” Mickey mumbled, receiving a questioning frown in return.

“You went jogging? Like you can’t even leave the habit aside for one week, no? How are you even real?”

“I like sports; I didn’t go jogging though I just went to the gym.”

“Gym?”

“Yeah, there’s a gym in the hotel. It’s not big but it’s enough,” Ian shrugged.

“Go wash up, you smell and I’m hungry,” Mickey threw himself on the bed and watched some reruns of the day before.

***

Mandy was already seated at a table set for three in a corner of the restaurant. Mickey wanted to run to her and hug the breath out of her, but the restaurant looked fancy and was full of people so he stayed decent.

His sister had changed, yes. But he recognized her immediately. Her hair had grown a lot and fell in large waves on her back, her dark bangs still hiding half of her face. She looked pretty, her hair was shining and her clothes looked clean and expensive, nothing like the clothes she wore back in Chicago. Her make-up wasn’t as dark anymore; instead she used lighter colors that brightened up her face and made her look elegant and young.

The waiter lead Mickey and Ian to their table and Ian had taken Mickey’s hand on the way. Mickey’s first reaction was to flinch but then he realized what they were doing and accepted Ian’s hand.

“Mands!” Mickey almost cried her name. When she heard him, she stood up from her chair and ran around the table. Mickey let go of Ian’s hand instantly and wrapped his arms firmly around her waist.

“Mick,” she whispered in his ear. Mickey could hear she was crying. She pushed Mickey away and grabbed his face with both hands, pushing and pulling at his cheeks.

“I can’t believe you’re finally here.”

“Me neither,” they both chuckled.

“And you must be the handsome boyfriend I’ve been hearing about,” Mandy said as she hugged Ian too.

“You must be the sister who Mickey can’t seem to keep quiet about,” Ian smiled.

“The one and only,” Mandy answered, sitting back on her chair. Both guys joined her and sat down next to each other. Ian shuffled his chair closer to Mickey’s so they were almost touching each other. Ian was far better at this fake dating thing than him, and Mickey was really fucking grateful for that.

“You guys, I’m so happy you don’t even know. Mickey with an actual boyfriend and a steady job, it’s crazy!”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Mands.”

The waiter gave all three of them a menu and Mandy told them her favorites. Mickey decided to take the same as her, as did Ian.

“So tell me all about it! How did you guys meet?”

Mickey and Ian looked at each other for a few seconds and Ian answered her question.

“We’ve been working together for three years,” Mandy’s eyes grew wide. “But we only started dating like three months ago.”

“How did that happen?”

“Well, we were at a colleague’s bachelor party at a club and we started dancing,” Ian smiled, like he actually remembered that night – even though it never happened – and Mandy looked excited.

“We had a lot of fun, right?” Mickey nodded.

“So we made it official, now tell me about your show!” Mickey continued, afraid Mandy would stop believing them.

“Oh it’s gonna be amazing Mick! It’s starting on Friday, so you guys are invited to the premiere! There are going to be famous people there and maybe they’ll let me design a second line! Can you imagine?” her happiness was contagious, Mickey felt proud of his little sister.

“That’s really great, Mands.”

“How many designs did you make?” Ian asked, looking very interested. Mandy lit up at the interest Ian gave her.

“I made 18 designs, the last one will be the big one, and it’s gorgeous!”

“I guess you can’t show us a little preview yet?” Ian pouted.

“Well, maybe one,” Mandy clearly loved Ian already.

The waiter finally brought them their food and it looked delicious. They were the most beautiful bacon and cheese hamburgers Mickey had ever seen. It made normal hamburgers look sad. They looked like the freaking commercials.

“Aren’t you guys tired with each other when you see each other like all day every day?” Mandy asked, munching on a piece of lettuce.

“Not really, it’s an exciting job. Keeps us busy,” Mickey could actually kiss Ian right now, Ian was the best at improvising.

“Yeah, I bet you know all about Mickey being into exciting things,” Mandy grinned and Ian actually choked onto a piece of meat. Mickey could feel his cheeks warm and knew he was blushing. He patted on Ian’s back as a quiet thank you.

***

After lunch, Mandy brought them to her office. It was pretty big and located high in the enormous building only four blocks away from their hotel. She had decorated it with bright colors and animal printed rugs. There was a large rack with expensive clothes in the middle of the office and her desk was scattered with papers and designs.

There was a large Mac standing on her desk and as she logged in, Mickey could see that her background was the same one as his. It was a picture of the both of them two years ago, in front of the sad Christmas tree Mickey had put up.

Mandy opened a password secured map in which Mickey could see her designs.

“This is going to be the first one on the catwalk,” she turned her screen and they could see one of her designs. The model she drew was long and slender, wearing a beautiful dress. She had an eye for detail that was sure.

“It’s gorgeous, you’re really good,” Ian said.

“Yeah, I know,” she grinned. “But thank you, it’s always nice to hear.”

“My boss only gave me free when the deadline is over, so Wednesday and Thursday I’ll take you guys to my favorite places, it’ll be so cool!”

“By the way, how’s the hotel?” she continued.

“It’s amazing, I don’t know how I’ll be able to pay it back to you, and it must’ve cost you a fortune.”

“Don’t worry, my boss paid it. She knew this show was important to me so she suggested you should come, paid for the hotel and all.”

That made Mickey feel even worse, now he felt indebted to someone he didn’t even know. He was glad that Mandy’s boss had been so generous but it felt uncomfortable, as if he was taking advantage of someone.

“Mick don’t worry, for us it’s a fortune, for her it’s like 2 dollar’s missing from her account.”

“What about this. You guys go into the city, get to know your way around a little while I’ll work on this project and when I’m done, I’ll join you!”

“Will you join us for dinner?” Ian suggested.

“I’ll make us reservations!”

***

“So what do you want to do?” they’re standing right outside Mandy’s office and Mickey was thinking because really, he wanted to do it all. He wanted to see the statue of liberty, the empire state building; he wanted to walk on time square and god damn he even wanted to see the metropolitan museum of art.

“Central park,” Mickey said softly.

“I wanna take a cab to Central Park.” Because what's a bigger movie cliché than taking a cab in NYC?

***

“God it feels like it’s even colder out here,” Mickey sighs as they get out of the cab.

“Well it’s winter, Mickey. It’s also snowing, of course it’s cold.”

“Well thanks mister obvious.”

“Of course! If it’s winter, that means -” Ian takes his hand and pulls him through the park, over a small bridge until they reached the big ice skating rink. It was enormous and there were way too many people on there. It was kind of a funny sight to behold; all those clumsy people, trying to get some balance, kids falling on their asses and then there were the people who could actually skate, getting blocked by slower people.

“Let’s skate!” Ian said, already making his way to get them some skates. Not only five minutes later, he comes back with two pairs of ice skates.

The first steps on the ice were clumsy, if it weren’t for Ian, Mickey would probably have fallen more than once already. Ian grabbed onto Mickey’s hand and Mickey didn’t even pull away, just let Ian pull him with. Back home, Mickey would be aware of anyone around them. He wouldn’t want Ian to touch him in any way, knowing that they’d be stared at. Even though he didn’t live in the Southside anymore, there were still people he knew around.

“Stop worrying, Mick. Look around you,” Ian said, and Mickey listened. He was glad he did because it was amazing. Maybe he hadn’t really realized it yet, but he was really in New York. Central Park was covered in a white sheet of snow and the different colors of the people around him made him dizzy. When he looked up he was surrounded by big buildings and it felt like he was in a movie scene.

The sky was already darkening and there were thousands of little lights in the dark buildings, it actually almost looked magical. He realized he just stood in the middle of the rink, staring around him. He tried to move and skate towards the edge of the rink, seeking Ian through the mass of people. When he was almost at the edge, someone skated right into him, pushing him on the ice. Judging by the goofy laugh, it had to be Ian.

“You fucker.”

“Skate with me,” Ian smiled, holding out his hand for Mickey. He grabbed Ian’s warm hand and followed him, not once thinking of letting go, scared he would fall down again. Ian didn’t seem to mind at all.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Mickey wasn’t really an early bird, so he was surprised when he woke up at 7 and actually felt like getting up. He ignored the fact that Ian and him were spooning - him being the little spoon - and also the obvious morning wood that was cuddled against his ass to avoid weirdness. He untangled himself from Ian and moved to the bathroom to take a shower.

The shower pressure was the most amazing thing ever. It was way better than the shitty shower at his apartment or the ones at work.

When he got out, Ian was sitting up on the bed, taking some pills.

“Morning,” he mumbled and Mickey mumbled the same.

“You were up early.”

“Yeah.”

“But as talkative as ever I see,” Ian grinned and stood up to take a shower himself.

They went for breakfast in a coffee shop close to the hotel and ate in silence. Mickey might have woken up early, but that meant that it only took him longer to actually get his brain to work.

“So we should totally go to the Empire State Building this morning,” Ian started, sipping from his Caramel Macchiato.

“Like right now?”

“Yeah, the website says that mornings are the best time if you don’t want to wait long and we can still be on time for lunch with Mands,” Ian already used nicknames, interesting.

“Sure yeah, let’s go,” Mickey smiled and Ian already grabbed his jacket whispering something that sounded a whole lot like ‘awesome’.

Mickey wasn’t used to how fast these cabs drove but it didn’t take very long before they were at their destination and Mickey stared open mouthed at the building in front of him. It was massive and he couldn’t even see the top from where they were standing.

Once they were inside the lobby, he realized he’d never even seen pictures of this thing on the inside. The murals in the lobby were incredible and the ceiling above the front desk looked amazing. There were also Christmas decorations and guards everywhere.

Quickly they found themselves at the Sustainability exhibit on the second floor and Mickey lost Ian who walked around already fascinated by everything he saw. Mickey tried to catch up with him but Ian kept running around like a headless chicken.

They had to wait a while before they could go into the elevators, but quickly they were on the 80th – fucking 80th – floor at another exhibit called Dare To Dream. They walked around for a while until Mickey got tired of reading things and whined to go up.

In only a matter of minutes, they found themselves on the main deck, 86 floors high and the whole city of New York at their feet.

It was incredible the put it lightly. Breathtaking was more like it. Everything he’d seen on TV in movies and shows, read about in books, heard about from people, it was right there. He could see Central Park, The Hudson River and East River, The Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, The Statue of Liberty, and so many other things he couldn’t even remember the names of.

“I have never seen you actually gobsmacked,” Ian smiled, bumping his shoulder against Mickey’s.

“Yeah, well you don’t see this shit in Chicago do you?”

“Do you wanna go higher?” Ian asked and Mickey didn’t think that he would survive higher. He was surprised his vertigo hadn’t killed him just yet.

“Sure.”

They went to the highest possible point – which was 102 floors high – and it was even more spectacular. He could see New York and the cities beyond. They were secured by windows which Mickey was very thankful of and Ian was taking pictures 360 degrees around the tower.

They stayed there for a while until they realized they were already running late for lunch. The way back down was silent but nice, the elevator was filled with people and Mickey was concentrating on the funny feeling in his stomach.

“Where are we meeting her?” Ian broke the silence when they were outside again.

“She gave me an address, some French café.”

Ian gave the address to the cab driver and they silently sat together.

***

Mandy was already seated at the table holding up an IPad. She already had a half empty glass of water so she had been waiting for a while, Mickey felt kind of bad for being late; he knew she had to go back to work soon.

Ian grabbed Mickey’s hand as they entered the café and a French waitress greeted them. The sudden gesture kind of startled Mickey, even more so when Ian entwined their fingers. Mickey didn’t tell Ian to let go, though, he had absolutely no idea why.

“Hi there, tourists,” Mandy smiled as the waitress showed them their table. Mandy stood up to give Ian and Mickey a kiss and she smiled at their hands, at that, Mickey did let go.

“Hope you didn’t have to wait too long,” Ian said, as friendly as ever. Mandy smiled and shook her head, finally putting the IPad away.

“Nah, I walked here so I’ve been here like ten minutes, no biggie.”

The waitress soon came to order and Mickey couldn’t pronounce any of the French names on the menu, so he just said something with omelet and hoped it wouldn’t have crazy things in it. What the hell is ‘jambon’ anyway?

The food they got in the end was delicious. They shared around in their plates like they did at home way back; they might have gotten a few weird looks but gladly ignored everyone around them.

“So if you’re a cop, do you see the bros a lot?” Mandy asked out of nowhere.

“Sometimes, I had to arrest Colin once for legal weapons and Iggy has slept behind bars multiple times after a drunken bar fight, but other than that, no one,” Mickey shrugged.

“Jamie?”

“Still behind bars, will be for a pretty long time.”

“What did he do anyway?”

“You don’t wanna know,” Mickey sighed, looking down at his empty plate. Ian’s hand suddenly found his thigh and gave him a light pinch. Mickey felt kind of weird about that though and pushed his hand away gently, Ian looked a little taken aback by that.

“Just tell me Mick.”

“Drug possession, assault on a woman, shot someone, stole a bunch of shit, hit and run. I mean, how much trouble can one person be in?” Mandy’s eyes were wide open.

“How long?”

“Twenty for sure, if not longer.”

“Good.”

“I need the toilet,” Ian said as he stood up, walked around Mandy and around the corner.

Mandy immediately grabbed Mickey’s hand and bent over the table, kicking him in the shin under the table. Mickey mumbled something that sounded like ‘you bitch’ as Mandy’s nails dug in his skin.

“What is wrong with you? That guy has been staring and hinting at you all through lunch. You’re constantly ignoring the looks he gives you and _publicly_ rejected him?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Mickey asked, genuinely having no idea what the hell was going on.

“Jesus are you blind or just plain stupid?”

Mickey frowned.

“Mickey this is not Southside Chicago, please. You’re in New York, stop being so scared about this.” He stared at her, speechless.

“That guy is crazy about you, and I’m crazy about him so he’s a great catch, please don’t ruin this,” he shook his head, telling her that no; he wasn’t planning to ruin this at all.

Ian came back then and when he sat down, Mickey gave him a quick peck on his lips. Ian looked startled and wide eyed. He smiled and obviously decided not to ask any questions, and Mickey was thankful for that. After that, Mickey let Ian put his hand on his thigh. Ian was stroking it and pinching gently sometimes, and Mickey loved it. God, he loved it way too much.

Mandy seemed pretty content though. She quickly started talking enthusiastically about the planning of the fashion week, how she had been on location and how in the afternoon, she could meet her models. And even now still, Mickey's stomach fluttered at her happiness.

***

“We really have to go there by boat?” Ian whined, he hated boats apparently. Constantly whined about getting seasick.

“Stop whining, we won’t be on there for long.”

They only got hold of tickets for the ferry and the only tickets available for them were the Ground Tickets. Apparently you had to make reservations to go into the god damn thing.

But honest to God, Mickey was glad that they weren’t going into the Statue. He didn’t feel like walking around in museums that would bore him to death. The ground ticket alone cost him half his rent.

“That this is fucking huge man,” Ian’s face was probably the most amusing thing Mickey had ever seen. His mouth was wide open; his eyes squinted from the sunlight and a pure look of shock on his face.

“I mean I knew it was big but damn.”

“Dude, there’s a museum in the crown, what did you expect?”

“Pity we can’t go inside,” Ian mumbled.

Once the boat arrived at the island, they walked around on it for almost two full hours. Ian wanted to take the most cliché ‘look I’m in NYC’ pictures on earth and Mickey gladly took them, mostly to just make fun of how Ian was posing.

“Debbie’s gonna be so jealous when she sees them,” Ian smiled.

“Let’s make one for Mandy too, yeah?” Ian suggested, Mickey looked confused.

Ian held the big Canon low in front of them so they were visible with the Statue of Liberty behind them and before Mickey could ask what the hell he was doing, Ian kissed him and snapped a picture. They lingered a while but pulled apart soon enough. Mickey was a little shocked as Ian smiled at him.

“You’re a dick,” Mickey said, Ian laughed and walked away.

***

After going to a cheap Italian place for dinner, they went to a fancy looking bar. It was dark with nice lighting and soft jazz music. The leather chairs were like sitting on an angel’s ass and Mickey swore that scotch tasted better in NY than it did in Chicago.

“Why did you become a cop?” Ian asked out of nowhere.

“Dunno, grew up to be a fuck up, and didn’t really want to follow my father’s footsteps. I hated it, so I decided to turn against him. I must say, arresting my own dad was one of the biggest highlights in my career.” Long and lisping sentences, maybe he should slow down on the scotch.

“You arrested your own dad?”

“So why did you become a cop. Wanted to become a Good Samaritan?” Mickey had not drunk enough yet to talk about his fucked up family situation.

“Sort of. I wanted to go into the army at first, so I made a fake ID and left when things got heavy at home when I was 17. Turned out I’m as fucked up as my mother and I’m bipolar. I almost stole a helicopter but I got out, they never found me. Figured if I can’t be in the army, why not be a cop.”

“You tried to steal a helicopter?” Mickey sounded exasperated. Mostly because he was. Who the fuck steals a helicopter?

“Tried to, kind of tipped it. Blades snapped. Motor caught fire.”

“That’s crazy?!” was the only thing Mickey could say.

“Well, I’m kind of crazy ain’t I?” Ian said, pointing at his head with one finger.

“So bipolar, huh,” Mickey started and Ian nodded absentmindedly. “That’s what all that meds are for every morning?” Ian nodded again.

“That sucks.” Mickey didn’t want to talk about his own situation; he totally understood that Ian didn’t like to open up about things about that. It’s personal, Mickey understood that well enough. He didn’t want to make Ian feel bad by throwing annoying questions at him.

“I sent the picture to Mands by the way,” Ian said, showing his smartphone. It was a Facebook conversation between Ian and Mandy, the picture was kinda nice actually. Mickey liked it. Mandy’s reaction was priceless. It was a mix of “kdjgertzkjsg” and “I’m so happy, you’re so cute I can’t”.

Mickey ordered more drinks, another scotch and a coke for Ian.

 

Two hours later, Mickey was babbling away and Ian was just smiling silly with everything he did. Mickey didn’t like to be laughed at, but kept talking anyway.

“So I push hiz face straight into my car and he’s screamin and calling me a fag ‘nd shit while I waz reading hiz rightz, priceless man,” Mickey slurred while telling Ian the story of him arresting his own father.

“So where is he now?”

Mickey smiled sickly. He might be drunk, but he wasn’t going to tell Ian all of it. No, some things are best unsaid. No one should know except for him, Mandy and Iggy.

“Okay, well it’s time to take you home pal,” Ian stood up and went to the bar; he paid the waitress and gave her a nice tip. She smiled sweetly and wished Ian good luck carrying Mickey back.

Ian pulled Mickey’s arm over his shoulder and lifted him to his feet. Once outside, he helped Mickey lean against the façade of the bar so he could call for a cab. Getting Mickey in the car was probably one of the hardest things he had to do; Mickey sure as hell didn’t want to leave yet.

“So I think we should practiz.” Ian gave Mickey a weird look. “Practice what?”

Mickey answered him by kissing him. He crawled closer to Ian, almost sitting on his lap and kissed Ian deeply, grinding his hips against Ian’s thighs.

“Mick, stop come on, you’re drunk.”

“I’m also horny,” Mickey whispered in his ear, then bit Ian’s earlobe.  “Haven’t gotten laid in months, please?"

“Mick, you’re gonna feel so bad about this in the morning, just stop.”

Luckily, they arrived at the hotel that moment. The staff looked weird when they came in but Ian ignored everyone and took the elevator to their room.

Once there, he helped Mickey in the bed and the man slept immediately, mumbling some inaudible things on his way to dreamland. When Ian joined him in bed only ten minutes later, Mickey shuffled close to him and held on to him like a koala to a tree. Ian didn’t care to push him away, liking the feeling of Mickey’s short breaths against his chest.


	4. Chapter 4

Mickey regretted the moment he opened his eyes. The bright morning sun shone right into his face and there were spots in front of his eyes from the sudden change of light. He buried his face in what he thought was his pillow only to realize it was Ian’s armpit and he realized he was holding onto Ian.

“What the fuck,” he whispered, starting to wake up. He untangled himself from Ian and sat up on the bed, he felt like he had taken several blows to the head, how much did he even drink?

Still unable to open his eyes completely, he walked towards the bathroom, making sure to not walk into anything by swinging his arms around.

Once there, he was able to open his eyes a little, looking right at his reflection in the mirror. Mickey looked horrible. Hair sticking up in every way, starting to get greasy, paler than ever with blue eye bags and as he looked down, he saw that he was only wearing his jeans and socks.

When he got into the shower, he tried to remember what happened the night before. He didn’t seem to remember anything after walking into that jazz bar, except maybe getting really drunk. Mickey knew which kind of drunk he was, okay. Talking too much, clinging onto people and getting into fights when people annoy him too fast.

Mickey shivered at the thought of having been clingy. What if he made a total fool of himself?

He washed his hair and got out of the shower, then put on some boxers and the hotel bathrobe. When he came out of the bathroom, Ian was already sitting up and reading. Mickey ignored him as he looked for some clothes and tried his best not to act too weird.

“No headache?” Ian said, a grin plastered on his face.

“Nah man,” Mickey lied and went back to the bathroom to get dressed.

“So what’s on the agenda today?”

“Mandy wants us in the office around noon; she wants to take our measures.”

Ian nodded and got up to shower too. He was about to close the door when he changed his mind and stuck his head out again.

“Nothing happened last night, if you’re worried.”

“Worried? Pft, I wasn’t worried,” Mickey tried his very best to sound casual, but he knew he failed miserably.

“Just making sure,” Ian winked and closed his door. Which was not alright. Ian shouldn’t _wink_ , nobody with a face like that should wink. It made Mickey’s stomach flutter and that just wasn’t not okay.

Once Ian was showered and dressed, they both put on their coats and left for breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Ian’s plate was overflowing with food and it made Mickey sick. He himself only had a croissant and some orange juice; he knew if he ate too much, he’d puke it all out anyway.

Around 11, they decided it was time to start heading to Mandy’s work. Ian was able to stop a cab after ten minutes of trying and gave the driver the address.

Mickey closed the door on his side very silently, careful not to hurt his head. Ian on the other hand, shut his door with a loud bang and smirked at Mickey knowingly. Mickey grabbed his head in his hands and muttered some curses under his breath.

“I didn’t do anything stupid did I?” Mickey asked silently and Ian laughed.

“So you do worry, huh?” Mickey rolled his eyes.

“No, you just said you were horny and fell asleep.” Ian shrugged, a grin plastered on his face.

“You’re not telling me everything,” Mickey frowned. Ian fucking winked. Again.

***

“Look at you guys, you’re so cute I wanna puke,” Mandy greeted them, already opening her arms to hug Ian first. Mickey didn’t really know how he felt about that, but he forgot about it when Mandy gave him a hug too.

She pushed them into the elevator, put a key into one of the locks on the button panel and pushed the button -1.

When the elevator came to a stop and the door opened, Ian’s mouth dropped open and Mickey could feel his own eyes widen. The place looked like it did in movies. There were racks of clothes everywhere and the walls were decorated with shelves where shoes were displayed. There were blue and orange lights coming from everywhere and people busy looking for clothes and talking in an earpiece.

“I know right,” Mandy smiled at the two dumbstruck guys in front of her.

She walked them towards the other side of the – how big even was this place – store room, which was clearly the men’s section. Mickey read some different brands going from Versace to Hugo boss and all those other big brands you see on TV and billboards.

“Hi Ryan, I need you to take some measures,” Mandy said so the guy. Mickey recognized him; it was the same guy that picked them up at the airport. Mickey only now realized how handsome the guy actually was. He was Asian and his hair was styled, he was wearing a dark blue suit that made him look fancy and shoes that looked very uncomfortable.

“Also, I told you guys we could hang out tonight but I got work, I still need to find music and decoration for the show I’m so sorry.”

Mickey shrugged and told her it’s no problem at all, while Ryan got to work measuring Ian. Mandy was holding out some color palettes in front of Ian and mumbling to herself.

“What do you think for Ian, Mick? Charcoal gray or navy blue?”

“I don’t care.”

Mandy didn’t listen anyway, still deciding on different color palettes. When Ryan was done writing down measures, he pulled Mickey closer and started taking his.

About five minutes later, Mandy and Ryan have both disappeared into the rows of clothing and left Ian and Mickey behind.

“What do you wanna do after this?” Ian broke the silence.

“We can go for a drink, I heard the weather will suck today,” Ian nodded in agreement and turned his head to see Mandy and Ryan come back, their arms full of suit covers.

She gave five different suit covers to Ian and pushed him into one of the fitting rooms. The three of them left outside, sitting in fluffy designer chairs as Ian got changed. Mandy and Ryan talked about the suits Ian was about to fit, Mandy saying she loved the blue ones but Ryan insisting Ian would look amazing in grey silk.

When Ian came out of the fitting room in his dark blue suit, Mandy squealed.

“God you look so handsome!” she said, standing up and holding three ties in front of Ian. She decided on a tin black one and put it on him.

“What do you think, Mick?”

“I don’t know, I’m used to seeing him in this color, we’re police remember?” Mandy looked a little less happy at that, taking in the information.

“Shit yes, maybe you could try the black one,” she said, taking off the tie again.

Ian fit three more suits that didn’t look different from the first one. Except the colors maybe. Ryan finally smirked and told Ian to fit the light grey suit and Mandy rolled her eyes. The last suit though, to Mickey’s surprise, did look fucking amazing.

The suit looked like it was made for him; the size and color were perfect for him. His blueish eyes immediately brightened as did his hair. Even the two day old stubble made it look more perfect. Ryan stood up and put the thin black tie around his neck.

“Okay fuckhead, you were right,” Mandy muttered as Ryan gave her the ‘I told you so’ face.

“What do you think Mick?” Mandy asked. Every face turned towards him.

Mickey was sure he was sitting there with his mouth wide open, staring at Ian. Because damn, Ian looked kind of amazing. If it weren’t for them actually knowing each other, Mickey could climb him like a tree. Although he thought he still had enough dignity left.

“He looks really…-“ beautiful? Handsome? Perfect? “Great!” Mickey wanted to slap himself.

“I think it’s decided then!”

Ian dressed into his normal clothes again and Ryan put the suit back in the suit cover. Meanwhile, Mandy pushed four suit covers into Mickey’s hands and pushed him into the fitting room.

Everything went well. The two first suits fit him pretty great but Mandy and Ian both disagreed that black wasn’t really ‘it’ for him. So Mickey was putting on the third suit, which was such a weird shade of blue, Mickey sure as hell wouldn’t wear this. But he put it on anyway, just to make Mandy happy.

Everything went alright until he had to close the pants. He could feel his boxer briefs getting stuck between the zipper and Jesus Christ he wasn’t going to embarrass himself with this.

“What’s taking you so long, asswipe,” he could practically hear Mandy rolling her eyes. Mickey tried to get the fabric loose two more times before he realized he couldn’t do this alone.

“The zipper got stuck.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake, Ian go help him!”

Ian walked into the fitting room then, a smug smile on his face. Mickey wasn’t as pleased, he felt his cheeks color as Ian looked at the zipper and burst out laughing.

“How the hell did you do that?”

“Shut up and help me.”

Ian got to his knees – and to be honest, Mickey had never imagined _this_ situation as the first time Ian would go on his knees for him – and was face to face with Mickey’s zipper. He was still grinning as he got his hands on Mickey, taking hold of the zipper and the fabric of his boxers. He was basically touching Mickey’s dick and Mickey was praying to not get hard.

He hadn’t had sex in forever, Ian being this close to his junk so Mickey could feel his breath on it, was too fucking much.

“Ian?” Ian looked up at Mickey and Mickey could only imagine how he would look like that with Mickey’s dick in his mouth.

“Can you not…breathe on it…please?” Ian laughed loudly and shook his head. Ian finally got it open and left Mickey in the fitting room half hard and sweating with nerves.

When he came out of the room and watched himself in the mirror, he was surprised to see that the suit looked really fucking good on him. The blue of his suit matched his eyes and made them ‘pop’. Mickey would never wear something like this for anything, he was sure of that. But he could rock this to go to a fashion show, right?

“Well I think we’ve made our decision,” Mandy said as she put a tie around his neck.

“Look how handsome my brother is.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Ian said as he winked at Mickey.

***

“I’m starting to question your taste in bars,” Mickey mumbled when they were in yet another Jazz bar with lounge seats and waitresses with cocktail dresses on. The place looked far too fancy for Mickey’s liking and far too busy for a Wednesday evening.

“Shut up, I pay, I choose.”

“Whatever,” Mickey said, taking a sip from his scotch.

“So I’ve been wondering…” Ian started, taking a sip of his own glass of coke.

“…who’s Jenna? I heard you talk about her to Mandy once or twice when you called her at work, and that Ryan guy mentioned her when we arrived, so… who is she?”

Mickey felt a little uncomfortable all of the sudden, because Ian hearing stuff like that makes him think about what else Ian has been listening to or hearing about. Jenna wasn’t just anyone, Mickey didn’t tell anyone about her.

“She’s our aunt.” Ian nodded, as if he agreed that this was all the information he was going to get and actually accepted it.

“When my mom died, Jenna moved to New York because she thought there was nothing left in Chicago for her. When shit got rough at home, I packed Mandy’s bags and sent her to Jenna, she’s still living there.”

Why the hell was Mickey talking about this? Damn, if only he’d know. But he found that talking about it made him feel relieved in some way, glad it was out. It made him feel like he wanted to say more.

“Shit got rough?”

“Look, Gallagher,” Ian rolled his eyes as Mickey used his surname again, “I don’t even know why I told you about Jenna but there’s things you don’t know, things that are private. Hell, I think you couldn’t even handle them. I’m not gonna tell you anything about my past if that’s what your digging for.” Mickey said defensively.

“I’m not fucking digging for anything, Mickey. I’m making conversation. I know it’s hard for you to understand what that is, but it’s nice, you could try it sometime.” Mickey felt a little taken aback at that.

“And anyway, if you think you’re the only one who’s got it rough, Mick, I got some news for you. We were born in Southside Chicago, we all had it rough. I was a gay teenager with unsteady hookups, a dream to be in the army and bipolar disease. Life isn’t a cookie for everyone.”

Well, he had a point, sure.

“Jenna always hated me. She said I was sick in my head, told me I was gonna end up like my dad, thought I’d get some chick pregnant at 16. I don’t blame her. But she loved Mandy, she always has. When our mom died she couldn’t handle being there, being close to my dad. She blamed him for everything.” Ian looked confused at that.

“She OD’d,” Mickey explained. “So Jenna left and me and Mandy took care of each other from then on. But once Mandy graduated high school, I wanted her out of there as soon as possible. There’s only so much an 18 year old girl can take, right?” Ian nodded.

“I started saving money on an account the moment our mom died. I used some to pay a plane ticket, called our aunt; I gave Mandy the account and sent her away.”

“Why didn’t you go with her?” Ian asked.

“I was studying, to become a cop. I had a plan y’know, to arrest my dad,” Mickey grinned. “I moved out, became a cop and I arrested him. It didn’t even feel half as good as I thought it would.”

“I’d love to arrest Frank one day,” Ian smiled as if he was imagining it already. “Too bad we never have enough evidence to keep him.”

___

_“You arrived alright?” Mickey asked the minute Mandy picked up the phone._

_“Yeah, I did. Jenna looks different, she’s blonde now. She lives in this old industrious building that’s been renovated, my room is kind of awesome, and we’re painting it next week.” Mickey’s heart jumped hearing his sister happy already._

_“Seen dad yet?”_

_“I’ve seen him,” Mickey tried, but Mandy wasn’t going to let him go away with this._

_“Mick…”_

_“He crashed your entire room, ripped all of your old clothes. He also trashed my room but I got away.”_

_“He say something?”_

_“Nothing worth repeating.” Mandy sighed in agreement._

_“You didn’t cry did you?” she laughed then, changing the subject._

_Mickey smiled. “No asswipe, there’s nothing to cry about.”_

_“You can cry about how much you’ll miss your sister.”_

_“Or I can smile because I know she’s safe.”_

_“Ew gross Mick, being a sap doesn’t suit you.” They both laughed. They then talked for hours, until Mandy fell asleep._

_____

Mickey and Ian were at a sushi bar when Mandy called him.

“Yes?”

_“Mick! I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for dinner but what about you and Ian come to the loft party tonight?”_

“Loft party?”

_“Yeah, my boss is giving a party and I asked her if you guys could come! Of course I’ll need you to be well dressed but it’ll be fun.”_

“A party in a loft on a Wednesday night full of people who work in fashion seems fun to you?”

_“Great! I’ll text you the address and you guys will come, right! See you then.”_

 Ian gave him a questioning look when Mickey put down the phone and explained where they were going; Ian of course, loved it.

○○○

“I feel so uncomfortable,” Mickey mumbled, looking around to the people in the loft. How anyone called this a party was beyond him. All he saw were fancy people with fancy clothes and fancy haircuts at designer cocktail tables ‘chatting’.

The music wasn’t even loud; it was a low, jazzy hum on the background and plain boring.

That’s not the only uncomfortable thing. The other thing was that Mickey was wearing skinny jeans that made him worry about his blood circulation, brown dress shoes that had his toes squeezed together painfully, a light blue shirt he lent from Ian with a V-neck which honestly felt too exposed and a fucking trench coat Ian lent him.

Ian wanted to make him wear a scarf, too. But Mickey wasn’t having any of that.

When a pretty girl passed them with a tray filled with Champagne glasses, Ian took two glasses and handed one to Mickey.

“You sure you should drink?” Mickey asked.

“I can drink one glass Mickey, you know that.” Mickey shrugged.

“There you are!” Mandy ran towards them and kissed them both on the cheeks. Mickey was kind of taken aback by how grown up she looked right there. Her hair was curled and her make-up clearly done professionally – probably one of her friends at the office – and her designer cocktail dress made her look like a million dollars.

“You guys look adorable it’s disgusting,” she smiled.

“You look amazing Mands,” Mickey mumbled, but Mandy looked like she’d just been given the world.

“So how’s New York for you guys?”

“It’s been pretty awesome, it’s so cool,” Ian immediately started talking about all the things they’d done already and what he still wanted to see and how much he looked forward to Mandy’s show which was only two days away. Ian had his sister wrapped around his fingers.

The weird thing was that Mickey liked it. He liked seeing Ian and Mandy together, like they’d been friends since forever. How good they could talk and just how happy Mandy looked getting so much attention from someone who didn’t actually have the intention to get into her pants.

Being there in front of them, he realized he was happier with his sister being here than having his sister at home. He realized how well she was doing and how she could really make it. She could follow her dreams and she looked so happy talking about her plans and ideas.

“So tell me some more about you guys together,” Mandy said suddenly, waking Mickey from his thinking bubble.

“Well, Mickey’s a screamer,” Ian joked but somehow he seemed kind of, off. Now Mickey noticed he realized Ian had been acting weird ever since dinner.

 Mandy laughed loudly as Mickey pushed his elbows against Ian’s ribs.

“Fuckhead!”

“Mick, come on. As if I didn’t know?”

When someone called Mandy, she walked away without a word and left them alone again. Ian stood at the table awkwardly, looking twitchy and nervous, as if he didn’t know how to hold himself.

“What’s wrong?”

“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong, why do you think something’s wrong?” Ian’s eyes were wide open; he looked as if he was caught for something.

“You’re acting weird man.”

***

They were back at the hotel only two hours later. Ian had been quiet most of the time and Mickey was starting to feel weird. He wasn’t used to Ian being quiet a lot.

“So you going to tell me why you’re acting so weird?” Ian only shrugged and pulled off his pants and shirt. He crawled into the bed and pulled the covers almost all over his face.

Mickey rolled his eyes and jumped next to Ian on the bed, pulling the covers away to see a surprised Ian staring at him.

“Tell me.” Mickey said.

“I guess I’m falling into a down period,” Ian finally got out, looking anywhere but at Mickey.

“A down period? I thought you were on meds?”

“I am, the meds keep me stable but they don’t make my bipolar disappear Mick. They stabilize me. I still have ups and downs, just not as intense.” Ian explained.

“So what does that mean? You’re feeling depressed now?”

“No Mick,” Ian sounded annoyed now, as if he couldn’t understand how Mickey could ask such stupid questions. “You have bad days too, right? It’s like that. I don’t have the need to stay in bed all day or jump out of the window; I just don’t feel as active.”

Mickey nodded as he started getting rid of his own clothes. Unlike Ian, he wore a t-shirt to sleep, though. He got under the covers next to Ian and sat up.

“How did you figure it out?” Mickey asked. Ian gave him a questioning look. “Figure out what?” Ian asked.

“You told me you found out you were bipolar at 17. How? Does it just happen one day to the other?”

“No,” Ian sighed. “I think it started somewhere before I went into the army. I started getting these crazy ideas, wanted to go out there and do something y’know? So I bought a fake ID and got it, I didn’t tell anyone about it.”

“Why?” Mickey asked, but Ian didn’t hear him, he just kept talking.

“The army sucked. I couldn’t follow orders; my mind was all over the place like all the time. A lot happened out there, some things I don’t even want to remember. The day I tried to steal a helicopter I ran. I think I was ashamed to go home? So I went to look for my mom, don’t tell me why, I don’t even know.”

“Still can’t believe you stole a helicopter.” Ian huffed.

“Anyway, I started dancing at a strip club. I wasn’t really good at it but it really paid well and those dudes gave me drugs all the time, it made me feel good, somehow it made me feel… _alive_.”

Mickey frowned; he didn’t really see Ian dancing in a club at all. He didn’t even know Ian ever had a drug problem, but then again, it’s not like someone likes to talk about past drug addictions anyway.

“My brother and sister found me one day. It took them a lot of trying before I gave in and went home. I hated it, though, being home again and doing nothing. I started cleaning everything, I went running every morning and every night, I overdid everything. Made everyone worry.”

“Did they know what was happening to you?”

“Not yet. They just thought I still took drugs, side effects or something. But one day I just couldn’t wake up, stayed in bed all day feeling terrible. Fiona was worried but didn’t do anything until the third day. After that, they figured it out pretty quickly.”

“Heavy,” Mickey sighed.

“Yeah. But I’m okay now, thanks to the meds.”

“You turned out more than okay, though, Ian.” Mickey pushed him against his shoulder; he could see Ian’s cheek coloring a slight tone of pink.

“So I was thinking, maybe we could visit all those lame museums you wanted to see tomorrow? Would that lighten your mood a little?” Ian immediately brightened up and smiled, showing all his pearly whites.

“I think that would be pretty awesome.”

Mickey did not blush at the smile Ian gave him. Not at all.


End file.
